Mbali Mashaba (Director of Behindherlensvisuals

MBALI MASHABA

Founder and Director of @Behindherlensvisuals

November/December Issue L u v o & L e k o n e O n k e m e t s e b y I n t e r v i e w D i s a n e

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Mbali Mashaba is a managing director of Behind Her Lens Visuals and Reel to Reality festival, Filmmaker, Curator and Content Creator. Her passion for visual storytelling led her to creating Behind Her Lens Visuals, to spotlight stories from the African diaspora and curate cinema watching experiences both virtually and through film festivals. She has experience as a film director, producer and editor with 5 short films under her belt, Ubuhle, The Revolutionary Act, Ivangeli, Fowl Play and Cartharsis, which have accumulated 10 local and international film festivals including The Cherry Film Festival, The Human Rights Festival, The UFA Youth Short Film Festival Zlaty Voći in in Russia and Prague and the New Generation Film Festival in Serbia.

“In African literature, ” says Mbali

Mashaba,

“ we learn about the concept called re-memory. ” She describes this as the collective feelings and desires which are passed on to us from our ancestors; this, according to her, is our link to those ancestors. She believes that as a storyteller, she has stories inside of her which are inspired by those who came before her – stories which she has to express, “I am a body of people asking not to be forgotten, ” she says. Mashaba lists Issa Rae, Micheala Coel, and Bong Joon Ho, as her biggest inspirations.

Behind Her Lens Visuals is a South African based creative agency with a mission to provide accessible stories to audiences on the continent and beyond, in order to bridge the gap between industry professionals, young storytellers and first time storytellers and audiences. It started as a microstreaming site for storytelling across the African diaspora aiming to introduce audiences to new and creative stories that reflect the past, present of storytelling through a central online space. It has since then branched into providing video production services through sourcing young skilled creatives to achieve audio visual services and providing curation beyond the digital realm through film festivals, screenings and talks.

November/December Issue 7

“I am a body of people asking not to be forgotten. ” In African literature we learn about the concept called re-memory. It basically means that we carry the collective feelings and desires of our ancestors. It links us to them. My belief is that as a storyteller, I have stories inside of me inspired by those who came before me and I have been called up to tell them or share them, should I encounter them. How has your upbringing as a child influenced your filmmaking process? I' ve always just been drawn to storytelling. It started out with literature and theatre space. I used to do prescribed poetry competitions as a child and enjoyed acting and role play. I used to recite poems for my grandmother, who would coach me on expression and gestures in addition to role playing oral stories she knew. I became really good at it and would win awards every year in school. I' ve always found storytelling to be an amazing escape and always enjoyed entering these different spaces and meeting or embodying interesting characters. This led me to a greater appreciation for story, and I fell in love with it even more as a student. As a director now, I value performance and world building alot. As a University of Witwatersrand film and television honours graduate and University of Gothenburg alumni, what would you list as your top three toughest school challenges and how

did you overcome them?

The toughest challenge for me was finishing my final year academically and feeling connected to it or the work I was doing. I just started hating the hypocrisy of academia as a whole. I appreciate the way that it’s made me look at the world but its also very limiting and holds you to unrealistic standards of being and living and experiencing things. It can turn you into a pessimistic critic that only values elitism and this can make you really closed minded. So I struggled to even want to live up to that standard because I had found my voice, or atleast was trying to and that wasn't necessarily an academic one. I overcame it by just accepting academia for what it was and coming to the realisation that it no longer served me and just finishing all my tasks so I could move on to the next stage of my life. Another challenge was accepting that not all my projects will materialize into what I hope for them to be. Sometimes people will let you down in the creative process and sometimes you let yourself down too but its still all very much an important part of a larger process of finding yourself as an artist, nonetheless.

What role is Behind Her Lens Visuals playing in the film and television industry, and where do you see the creative agency in five years?

We ’ re a creative agency aiming to spotlight stories from the African diaspora through a centralised virtual platform and accessible events. Our role is to make film and storytelling accessible above all else and to give visibility to stories that might not be in mainstream media and the filmmakers that make them. Ultimately, we want to create an active culture of film watching and an active cinema culture too. Our aspirations are to become a household name in curating amazing filmmaking events in different social spaces, for our streaming site to house some of the best Indie and student films in the diaspora and to have our own inhouse productions. How was the documentary Ubuhle received by the targeted audience, and do you believe the film achieved its purpose? Also, what is the current state of the ‘ politics of beauty ’? It was overwhelmingly positively received. We really didn't expect it to do so well in its screenings or the film festivals that followed. It definitely achieved its purpose in sparking that larger conversation around the politics of beauty and reaching people from different walks of life too and have them actively introspect about their own prejudices and internalised bigotry. Things have changed since we released the film in 2018. We’ve seen representation really push boundaries across the board a lot more and people are more cognizant of how beauty is perceived and its politics contribute to our daily lives, with that being said, there’s still a long way to go in having that be the standard everywhere. What new project(s) are you working on? I work as a creative researcher for a TVC production company now and so this means I work on different commercials all the time. In my spare time, I' ve been working on the script for my next film and Behind Her Lens Visuals events. Our next big event is the return of our annual film festival and Reel to Reality festival. In an Information Age saturated by content production, what is your strategy for your work to reach your desired audience? Social media management really goes a long way. Looking at trends and what people genuinely want is also important and aligning yourself to like minded entities and individuals. Which filmmakers, dead or alive, inspired your journey in this industry? Issa Rae, Micheala Coel and Bong Joon Ho are my biggest inspirations. What skills help you be an effective content creators? That' s an interesting question because I

don 't think of us as content creators but content curators. We just curate content and stories that already exist and this often requires a lot of research about what films are out there and if they align with our goals. This research also extends to which spaces these stories/content can be shared. Thereafter it' s really a culmination of creative skills like editing, graphic design, community media management and events planning to get them to audiences.

Can you tell me more about your management style? So I, as the founder and managing director of Behind her Lens Visuals look for opportunities for us to curate and collaborate with existing creative spaces and organisations. I also take on the role of actually curating what those events feel, look and operate together with branding and overseeing our social media. I' m really a shapeshifter. Yonela Vakalisa is more of a digital curator in that, she sources films to feature and showcase and makes those connections with the filmmakers who make them in order for us to obtain the rights to distribute in so far as our website, our events or Reel to Reality Festival. She ' s really my right hand in decision making and making some crucial connections. How do you view the importance of communication in the successful completion of your job? It' s important because what we do is really collaborative work. And collaborative work is built and relies on good communication. I need to communicate very well to my team about tasks and goals and they communicate their ideas with me. I need to know how to communicate with sponsors and audiences to back some of our events and they need to communicate in what capacity they can assist and how. It' s just an entire communication chain. Are there practical tips or challenges as a curator, when working with a collective, and managing multiple expectations? Constantly make sure that you are on the same page with everyone. Do not ever assume that people will get things done for you, just try to be more proactive about every part of curating. Do curators have an ethical and / or social responsibility? We have the responsibility to share stories in ways that are authentic to the artists/storytellers and not misrepresent things. And to also share work that isn 't harmful or intice violence or is blatantly bigoted.